What Is It
What is necessary for a person to survive over time? Is it the continued existence of the living body? Or is it just the living brain? Or is it one's psychology, which might persist even without one's original brain in a computer or in an entirely new brain? How important are questions of personal identity for ethics and rationality? John and Ken are joined by Raymond Martin, Professor of Philosophy at Union College and co-author ofThe Rise and Fall of Soul and Self: An Intellectual History of Personal Identity.
Listening Notes
Ken and John begin this week’s episode by discussing what philosophers mean by personal identity, and why they think such a thing exists. Ken proposes a simple definition: personal identity is simply the same thing we mean when we talk about the identity of two objects, where the objects just happen to be people. But John disagrees. He argues that people mean something very different when they refer to the identity of persons. He thinks there’s a psychological sense of identity that is most important to people when they are referring to who they are. Even still, Ken counters, there is always just one person who is undergoing changes over the course of his/her life. So what does this psychological sense matter? Thus begins the debate about personal identity.
在这一点上，Raymond Martin进入讨论，试图帮助澄清Ken和John之间的混淆。肯问雷蒙德为什么他应该为未来做计划，为什么他应该关心他将成长为一个老家伙。当你考虑关于人格同一性的不同思想实验时，关心未来的自己会成为一个非常令人困惑的问题。通过观察人们对这些实验的直觉判断，就有可能理解当人们出于对未来自我的担忧而采取行动时，什么对个人最重要。肯，约翰和雷蒙德就人格同一性的心理和肉体标准展开了激烈的辩论，试图找出最能抓住人格同一性本质的正确答案。当你的身体发生巨大变化时，你还会是原来的那个人吗?如果这些变化影响了你的思维，就像阿尔茨海默病一样，那该怎么办?
At this point, the discussion turns to questions about self governance and autonomy. The ethical landscape of questions related to the personal identity and wishes of people who have undergone grave psychological changes because of disease proves to be challenging terrain. Ken and John, in addition to our guest Raymond, attempt to sort out and make sense of the implications of personal identity for rationality and morality.
- Roving Philosophical Report(SEEK TO 00:04:23): Zoe Corneli takes us on a tour through Hollywood and its different representations of personal identity. She presents the deep questions about the nature of personal identity, and what our bodies and brains say about who we are from “Being John Malkovitch”. “Freaky Friday,” the “Young Frankenstein”, and “Star Trek” all address how identity is malleable to the extent that we can modify our brains.
- Sixty Second Philosopher(SEEK TO 00:48:38): Ian Shoales speeds us through a discussion of cognitive dissonance and wishful thinking, and the relationship to personal identity. Cults, God, Relationships, Iraq, and Los Angeles—Shoales leaves no topic out of this sixty second report.
